The organisers of HYROX, an indoor fitness competition, has apologised to participants after Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk was allowed to compete in its event in China despite defecating on herself mid-competition on Saturday. 

HYROX had initially vowed to issue lifetime bans from its events to anyone who directed threats at the 22-year-old after participants of the competition in Beijing started to demand an apology and a refund, saying they were forced to come into contact with contaminated equipment.

“There is no place in our community for threats of violence or encouragement to harm an athlete. As this has happened this weekend, we want to be very clear and direct: 

“Any person identified as engaging in this behaviour — whether through comments, direct messages or social media — will be permanently banned from all HYROX events. We are currently reviewing and identifying those responsible, and action will be taken,” the company said.

Meanwhile, in a subsequent statement by HYROX co-founder Moritz Fürste after criticism continued to mount on social media, the company formally apologised to those directly and indirectly affected by the sight of fecal matter running down the legs of Ms Wietrzyk. 

“I need to address all of you directly concerning the recent events in China. I apologise to all that were directly or indirectly affected, as well as to everyone who felt like we did not handle the situation like we should have,” Mr Fürste said in a statement posted on Instagram.

Speaking further, Mr Fürste acknowledged HYROX erred by not reacting to the incident during the competition, stating the company had started the process to update its rules in case of future occurrence. 

“HYROX made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race. In the end it is my job to foresee these potential incidents – and I did not.

“Of course, we started improving event processes, plus making rulebook changes immediately. As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again.

We learn and try to get better everyday,” Mr Fürste added.